2 at daycare charged with failing to report possible abuse

Published 9:57 pm, Friday, February 15, 2013

DANBURY -- The former director and a teacher at a local day care center operated by the Community Action Committee of Danbury have been arrested on charges of failing to report a possible sexual abuse at the school.

Authorities stated in court documents that the delay in reporting the allegations compromised the investigation and allowed the suspected abuser to have access to the children after a complaint had been made.

An attorney for the CACD, however, said "all the proper steps were taken" when agency staff members were alerted to the allegations.

Vivian Colden, who was recently terminated as the day care's director, entered a not guilty plea Friday during her arraignment on the charge for failing to report a suspected abuse.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the mother of a 3-year-old boy first notified a teacher, Rosa Gutierrez, at the school on Dec. 17 that her son claimed a male teacher touched his genital area while alone in a bathroom at the Action Early Learning Center on Balmforth Avenue.

The boy's mother asked him about it, the document said, when he complained of pain during urination. The affidavit stated the boy later told his mother that he had fallen on a toy and hurt himself.

The affidavit states that Gutierrez didn't notify authorities of the complaint and brought it to Colden's attention four days later on Dec. 21, when the mother told Gutierrez that she took the boy to a doctor who contacted the state Department of Children and Families.

Doctors and teachers, as mandated reporters in the state, are required to report suspected abuse within 12 hours of being notified of the allegations, the affidavit states.

Gutierrez, as Colden, was arrested and charged with failing to report a suspected abuse. Information on Gutierrez' plea at arraignment was not available Friday evening.

Colden interviewed the mother and the boy on Dec. 21, but failed to contact authorities about the matter, according to the affidavit.

The document stated that Colden told the mother that she would contact police after the Christmas break if she didn't receive any communication from DCF.

When police contacted Colden on Dec. 26, she told authorities that she didn't recall a claim of abuse by the mother and that she wasn't too concerned about the incident, the affidavit stated.

Colden later told police that she didn't "suspect" anything occurred and that she never discussed the matter with the male teacher who was accused of the abuse. She also told authorities, according to the affidavit, that teachers are not allowed to be alone with the children.

When police interviewed the male teacher who allegedly touched the boy, the affidavit stated he denied the allegations, but said he is routinely left alone with the children.

A police spokesman wasn't immediately available Friday to discuss whether an investigation into the abuse allegation is continuing.

Hillel Goldman, an attorney for CACD, said Friday that the agency "seeks to protect the welfare and safety" of all the children in their programs and that "when CACD became aware of the situation all the proper steps were taken."

Colden and Gutierrez were both released from police custody Friday on written promises to appear in court.